author's note: I'm back! Apologies for missing a few updates! Real world stuff got in the way, but I am dropping one of my favorite chapters on y'all!

The song for this chapter is Something by Cyn!

Wednesday, Mar. 17

Bubbles smiled as she neared the automotive shop. From her spot in the skies, just barely having gotten off of patrol, she couldn't see if he was inside his office or in the garage, but the doors were open and the lights were still on. There was no reason he wouldn't be, unless he'd hired someone else without telling anyone. But even still, he should be there…

She was stalling.

The blonde took a deep breath. Armed with a strawberry banana milkshake in one hand and a mint chocolate chip in the other, Bubbles finally decided to make her way inside. She landed just outside one of the open garage doors and barely took a step in before she was greeted by Candy. A larger cat now, though still nowhere near fully grown, she took to pressing against Bubbles' legs, her tail curling around one calf.

"Hello to you too, Candy Girl," she greeted warmly. "Where's Butch at?"

Mrowr!

"His office, huh?" She smiled, getting a purred yes in response. Without warning, Candy leapt up and landed smoothly onto her shoulder, her claws never once coming out as she landed. The cat's purring got louder as she nuzzled against Bubbles' cheek. "I missed you too, girlie." Bubbles giggled, the corners of her eyes crinkling with warmth. "Come on, let's go see your daddy."

"Right here," he said from a ways off to her left. She turned to see him leaning in the doorway of his office, a lopsided smirk already on his face. "What's goin on, Sugar?"

"Brought you a shake." Her heart thundered against her ribs at the sight of him, his cheek all smudged with oil and unkempt hair curling like wisps of smoke. She cleared her throat, her fingers trembling slightly as she held the styrofoam cup out. Keep it together, you big dumby! You've seen him half-naked before. This shouldn't make you fall apart. "Mint chocolate chip."

"Oooh," he cooed. "What's the bribe for?"

She laughed when he eagerly pulled it from her hand. "Not a bribe, you butt, a thanks. You know, for talking to my sisters and taking us out on Monday. I never did thank you properly, and I wanted to fix that as soon as I could."

He gave her that excited smile she so adored just before taking a drink of his shake. "Y'all seemed to have a lot of fun at the karaoke bar. I think my thanks was getting to see just how bad Bloss Boss is at karaoke. She ain't bad at anything, it feels like."

Bubbles shoved his shoulder lightly, a smile on her face. "Well, this is double thanks, then."

Candy traveled from her shoulders to his, then launched herself onto the cat tower just off in the corner. The leap gave them both a bit of a startle, the tension in their shoulders melting away as easily as it had come when she landed perfectly. "She's gonna give me a heart attack one of these days."

"Why do you bring her to work?" the blonde asked, curious.

He shrugged. "I didn't wanna shove her into my brothers' hands while I was at work and I didn't want to leave her alone at the apartment for too long. Bringing her along was what I landed on. Besides, it's my business so nobody can tell me no, and she really doesn't mind the loud sounds all that much."

She shook her head and took a drink from her own shake. "And the customers?"

"All seem to love her so far. A lot of them say she makes them feel better about the wait just by being there." He shrugged, his eyes dancing with that same something that she could never seem to define. "I like to think she takes after her momma in that regard."

The blonde nearly choked on her shake. "Wh-What?"

He chuckled warmly at her reaction, a devilish grin twisting the corners of his mouth. "If we have shared custody and I'm her daddy," he jerked his thumb in Candy's direction, "then I'm pretty sure that makes you her momma."

She swallowed thickly, heat staining her cheeks and neck a vibrant red. She hated how easily it had rolled off his tongue, how it sounded like the sweetest honey to her ears and made her knees all wobbly. She hid her face behind her free hand, and he chuckled softly when she peeked through her fingers just moments later to see his face. Embarrassment didn't matter when her retort was on the very tip of her tongue, though.

"If that's the case, when am I getting my child support?"

His laughter, deep and belly-busting and from the gut, made his whole face glow with happiness and the blonde felt her heart race all over again.

She cleared her throat as she pulled her hand from her face. "So that aside, what's on the agenda tonight?"

He let his laughter die with another drink from his shake. "I just have to finish locking up and head home, actually. You popped in right as I finished up for the day." He shrugged, his curls flopping like a puppy's tail with the motion. God, he was so damn cute. "Did you have an idea for the night or something?"

She hummed thoughtfully. "I did, if you were interested in hearing me out."

He raised his brows. "What's on your mind, Sugar?"

She bit her lower lip, an action that had his complete attention.

Butch would have loved to say that it was only because he'd never seen her do it before, but he'd be a filthy liar if he did.

"It's… it's boring, so I wouldn't blame you if you said no… but there's a lunar eclipse we will actually be able to see tonight." She watched his brows go up in interest. "I try to watch the eclipses from my building's rooftop 'cause it's always prettiest up some place higher, but it's just a bunch of laying on your back and watching the sky. I want to watch the reddest part of it tonight."

Forest eyes seemed genuinely surprised. And oh so pleasantly so. "And… you're inviting me?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" she inquired with a (slightly nervous) smile.

He knew it was important to her on some level at the very least; you don't just get a tattoo of something that you had no interest in or attachment to. The octopus, almost kraken-like in its stylization, he understood. She'd never been shy about her love for marine life, the beach, and the ocean in general, but he also very distinctly remembered an old, worn octopus plush she had on her shelves in her apartment. One he'd seen brief flashes of over the years that they'd known one another.

He'd seen her use several octopus motifs across clothing, furniture, dishware…

He didn't know why she had chosen the moon motif, though, and now?

She wanted him to go with her.

That alone was reason enough to say yes.

"…we'll have to swing by to drop Candy off before we head out. You alright with swingin' by my place to do that?"

The smile that lit up her face nearly blinded him. "Absolutely, yeah! You know you can always bring her along so she can play with Coffee, right?"

He hesitated but still nodded. "You sure about that? These two together can be like a tornado."

"I know," she giggled. "We've left them alone briefly before, and I think they'll be fine for an hour or so."

He shook his head and dropped the shake onto one of the ten gallon drums of oil he had to dispose of soon. "Let me go start locking up. Candy, let's get home, baby girl."

Bubbles' smile softened at his call to the kitten, who meowed a complaint about being forced to move after she had just gotten comfortable. "Oh, you'll have more comfortable places back at home," she scolded playfully. The cat growled another complaint as she got up and trudged over to the blonde. Again, Bubbles didn't flinch when Candy leapt up, only this time into her free arm. A little meow caught her attention. "…no, Coffee is back at my home. We're going to my home before you go to your home, honey."

Meow!

"Yes, I'll bring him to see you soon. I'm sure he'd love to have a longer playdate."

Prrbt .

"Candy, dear, I can't just sleep over every time you want me to." The blonde laughed and took a sip of her shake, earning another disapproving, complaining growl. "Oh he's got you spoiled rotten ."

Meow! Mrow!

"Spoiled or not, if you pull that, your daddy's gonna be mad ."

"I will?" Butch asked as he came back around the corner, flicking a few light switches along the way. He had amusement plainly on his face, written beautifully into the lopsided smile she knew so well. "What's she threatening?"

Mrow.

"She's threatening to tear up-"

Candy used her paw to bat at the blonde's lips in a blatant attempt to shut her up.

Butch's laughter was guaranteed to make Bubbles smile, no matter where it happened or the reason why. So even though a fuzzy little grinch foot of a paw was covering her mouth, she couldn't help the smile spreading across her face when his laughter echoed loudly through the garage. He had to take a second to catch his breath, and eventually he managed to finish turning the lights in the shop off and grab his shake. "…why not stay over, then?"

Her cheeks pinkened further. "You spoil her too much."

He snorted and rolled his eyes, reaching up to close the two open garage doors. "As if Coffee isn't a spoiled little brat, too. Seriously, though- does my apartment stink or something?"

She shook her head, taking a small sip of her shake to cool off her warming face. "No, I just… didn't know if you'd want company or not. And I thought it would make a little more sense to stay at my place if that's where we're watching it at."

He leaned against the wall, looking her up and down for a moment, his smile fading just a touch as he thought. "…Sugar, I'll be completely honest with you. You're welcome in my home anytime, whether I'm there or not." He then flashed a brighter smile and her heart stuttered, threatening to burst out of her then and there so it could lay itself bare in his palm. "I'll show you where my spare's at when we head back to my place later."

She flushed and opened her mouth to protest, only to realize the corner that he'd backed her into. Her eyes narrowed a bit. "You want me over that badly, huh?"

"Maybe I missed having you over," he countered, his smile and voice softer now.

Her heart was a drum, banging so loudly it was a wonder that he couldn't hear it. It was the most open statement she'd ever heard from him. She swallowed the sudden emotions forming a massive lump in her throat. "…well, whose fault was it for holing himself away, then?" Her voice was just as soft as his, the smile on her face just as tender as the look in her eyes. "I guess this begs the question then- are you willing to be pretty human tonight?"

The smile on his face grew a little devious, and he disregarded her first question. "Are you propositioning me , Miss Utonium?"

She knew he was teasing, but there was a little worm in the back of her mind that almost- almost - wanted to see what he'd do if she said yes. Instead of embarrassing herself further, though, she decided to be lighthearted and toe the line instead of outright breaking past it. "I dunno, Mister Jojo. Depends on how you play your cards tonight."

She laughed brightly when both of his brows went up and his cheeks burned a deep, rosy hue. He cleared his throat and switched the subject, though. "And when does the eclipse start?"

"Around eleven thirty tonight- it lasts until just barely after midnight," she answered. For a brief moment, she worried that she might've made him uncomfortable with her teasing. "I mean- that's when the moon will be the reddest, anyway. It'll be out of the eclipse hours later, and I don't really expect you to stay up there the whole time. Just… just till midnight-ish."

"So you're looking for some birthday sex, then?" he asked, waggling his brows at her again, circling right back to her tease.

She shook her head and shoved his shoulder. "You're awful, you know."

"You started it," he laughed. "Are y'all doing anything special tomorrow?" She shook her head, and he held up a finger to keep her from elaborating. "Give me two seconds to finish making sure the doors are locked and the alarms are on."

She smiled and nodded, watching him rush around to the office's entrance. Candy was still purring at her shoulder and she hummed softly along with the kitten's purrs. It took him about four minutes to come back out and lock the door behind him, and when he did he gave her an easy grin that made her toes curl.

"You were starting to say?"

Bubbles shrugged. "I was gonna say, the Mayor is giving us from tomorrow until the end of Spring Break off from patrols, which is why we were all on duty tonight, but otherwise no. We didn't have anything planned so I've almost managed to convince them to come to the ocean beach house I'm renting with me, but they haven't caved yet. We don't have anything planned for our actual birthday, either, so that's even more fun," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"You rented a beach house?" he asked, surprised.

She nodded. "I wanted to go jet skiing and I wanted a real vacation since we're actually getting the time off for one for once. It's the gift for us all that I mentioned before, finally having a real vacation… but Blossom's hesitant to leave without knowing more about those fleshy blobs. Buttercup wants to pretend she's not worried about it, but she is. She's been way more alert since I broke my leg."

His brows went up and they started walking. "Are you going alone if they don't go?"

"I'll drag Boomie with me." She shook her head, tucking a stray blonde curl behind her ear. "Maybe you, if you wanna tag along. I wasn't sure if you had time, what with the shop and all… but I was hoping."

"Nah, I went out of my way to not schedule anything after tomorrow at noon. I've got one oil change to take care of, but I have no plans to work until after the break, too. It's the last year I can actually enjoy it."

She nodded. "It's why I wanted an actual vacation. The last year we'd all be in college seemed like a good enough occasion to break into a little bit of the savings, ya know?"

"If this is an invite, I'm definitely tagging along." He smiled over at her.

She beamed, the force of her grip nearly crumpling her styrofoam cup in her excitement. "Hell yeah!"

"I'll help you drag Butterbabe along, too," he chuckled. "Didn't you both used to be on the volleyball team in high school?"

She lit up, understanding the underlying message. "I'll tell her I'll kick her ass, that'll spark her interest."

"Exactly," he laughed. "I'll tell her I'll tag with you to kick her ass."

"Oh that'll definitely get her."

He went quiet as they walked, and not for the first time it surprised her how just easy he was to simply be with, regardless of their level of conversation. The ever growing darkness of the night did nothing to stir her usual fear of it. With Butch walking by her side and a purring cat around her neck, she knew that even if they were attacked then and there by one of those flesh monsters, that she would be safe, comforted. Nothing could ever touch her, not with him there.

They walked through Townsville without a care in the world, and had almost arrived at her building when he finally spoke up again. "…how about some pancakes in bed?"

"Huh?" she asked, startled.

Butch looked down at her with that same odd look in his forest eyes again. "You said there weren't any plans for you guys' birthday tomorrow, and we already agreed that you're staying over at my place, so how about I make you some breakfast in bed to start your day off right?"

She flushed, her smile a little shy. "You don't have to do that, Butch."

"I want to, Bubs. But I also don't want to make you do something that will make you uncomfortable on your birthday," he clarified. "Would you want that or not?"

Her breath caught in her throat, the world fading away around them. He never called her Bubs, ever. It was always 'Sugar' or 'Sweetcheeks', and never did he say them so softly, the corners of his eyes all crinkled and shining with something that she was beginning to realize that she'd known the name of all along, but was terrified of defining. "I…" She cleared her throat, her free hand fluttering like a baby bird's wing at her side. "I think that sounds like you're threatening to spoil me, Mister Jojo, and I'll never say no to someone spoiling me." She laughed, hoping that it didn't sound anywhere near as awkward as it did in her head.

They went silent again and she glanced up, a cold, sudden fear forming in the pit of her stomach that she'd somehow upset him. It melted away instantly when she saw the content smile sprawled lazily on his lips.

Her fingers twitched, desperate and aching to grab his hand and entwine themselves with his.

She held back the urge.

They stayed contentedly quiet on the last leg of the journey to her building. Candy had jumped off of the woman's shoulders once they were inside her warmer apartment, making a fast bee line to her brother. The two more human occupants took their shoes off at the door and stepped inside, making their own beeline to her balcony, and then to her building's roof. Bubbles had stopped only briefly to get them both glasses of water, a blanket to lay on and the joint she'd rolled that evening before patrol.

The two got to the roof about ten minutes before it was supposed to start, but that was enough time to light the green cigarette and pass it between them a few times. Butch took the lovingly worn, black and blue polka dotted blanket (one of the first gifts he'd ever gotten her, though she doubted he remembered, it'd been so long ago) and spread it out on the rooftop. He got nice and cozy laying on it, his hands behind his head.

Bubbles lay right next to him, looking cheekily up at him when she decided to use his pectoral as a pillow. He smiled down at her and she offered the joint back to him.

"You're okay with this?"

"Hell yeah," he agreed before he took his drag. She held her palm out when he offered it back to her- she was through. So, he took another smaller hit off of it and put it out against the shingles just off the edge of the blanket. When the smoke left his lungs, he extended his arm and wrapped it around her, pulling her closer to his chest. "Use me as a pillow all you like, Sugar."

She hummed, her cheeks bright pink. She didn't hesitate to curl up against his side, her head moving to lay more on his shoulder. "I'll remember that for the future."

He chuckled. "I'll be disappointed if you forget."

It felt like they kept toeing the line, getting closer and closer to this space between friendship and something so much more without ever really getting too close. She wanted to edge even further, then he'd one-up her. If she was the first to initiate it, it also felt like he was the first to back off. They were locked in this little tango, valuing their friendship as it was far too much to throw a wrench into it. They were terrified of ruining it.

Bubbles traced her fingertips along his chest just as the moon started to darken. His arm tightened a bit around her and his thumb began going back and forth in soft, feather light motions. He'd caused her t-shirt to ride up just a hair- just enough for the contact to be skin-to-skin.

His rich skin always beckoned her to touch it, but she never really got an excuse to.

She didn't know what his excuse would be for this, but not a single one would ever be good enough when she didn't have one.

The eclipse phased through slowly but surely, the orange of the moon burning almost as vibrantly in hue as the sun burned in its light. She curled closer to him, hummed a soft and unknown tune through her nose, and he noticed her hands trembling when the moon was at its deepest hue. She seemed content- comforted, even- by the moon, and it sparked his curiosity just a little.

That could wait, though.

He waited until after the moon was it's usual gray once more- the mass majority of it blocked out by the shadow of the earth, leaving it only a sliver for the moment.

It meant that it was officially past midnight.

"Happy birthday, Bubbles." His voice was a ghost of a whisper, so soft that for a moment, she believed he hadn't even spoken at all. He leaned down, the sudden roar of his heart a symphony with the hitch of her breath when he placed a kiss, so tender and light, to the crown of her head.

She bit her lower lip again.

"Thank you." She curled her trembling hands into his shirt, a wobbly little smile on her lips. "It may be irresponsible of me, but I'm not going to class tomorrow. Today. Later. It's the last day of classes before spring break anyway."

"Sleep in with me," he urged softly. "I'll wake you up with pancakes in bed and we can talk about getting your sisters to this beach house after."

"Are you asking me to sleep with you?" she asked playfully.

She meant it as a tease, as a way to bring a sense of normalcy back to the night. They were dangerously close to that line, just a hair's breadth from crossing it. She was giving them both an out, a chance to go back to the way things had been just hours before. But the way he looked at her, his cheeks all fiery and his eyes dancing with yearning, made her realize that it was too late. The line was gone. "Yeah, actually. Sleep, not sex, though. You actually let me cuddle with you and don't give me shit about it, and I'd like to sleep with you on something that's not a couch for once."

She swallowed thickly, her knuckles going white from the force of her grip on his shirt.

There was a sudden, almost fearful look in his eyes, and she felt her heart first break at how small he seemed, only for it to then swell at the thought of how he was trying to be more vulnerable… for her. She leaned closer, her heart tapping a rapid, staccato rhythm against her ribcage as she placed a small peck on his chin.

The line was gone now. It didn't matter anymore. At least… not here, not now.

"O-Oh, okay then. Sure."

Butch inhaled sharply through his nose, his eyes growing wide. His arm squeezed tighter around her. "Are… are you sure? If it makes you uncomfortable-"

"If I get uncomfortable, I'll either kick your ass or just leave the bed," she reassured. "I said yes because I… want to. It's just… new?"

He grinned so widely then it reminded her of the moon above, excitement melting away the hard lines of his face that she'd grown so used to seeing, making him look like an oversized puppy. "One step at a time," he whispered, reassuring her that she wasn't the only one stuck where she was. That she wasn't the only one wanting to progress further, but with no real clue about how to go forward.

And it was enough for her.

She smiled right back. "One step at a time."